After Trump acquittal, accountability is still sought Updated February 20, 2021, 2:30 a.m. Email to a Friend Impeachment is a political process â real test is in legal system Before we bemoan former president Donald Trumpâs second impeachment acquittal as proof that the rule of law in America has crumbled, we should recall the oft-cited fact that impeachment is a political process, not a judicial one. Politics has never been about equal protection under the law; rather, it has been about pleasing voters in order to gain and retain power. Republican senators voting to acquit were in some sense merely complying with the desires of many of their Trump-bedazzled constituents to protect their hero.